End of the week update!

          Hey guys! I'm back to living in the house with the Hause's (that's the family who are hosting me while I am staying in the Philippines. They have been very generous to me and have made living here very welcoming and comfortable! Also, while I did enjoy my little 'vacation', it is nice to be somewhere where a cat isn't constantly trying to eat my pen.

Which reminds me that I might as well talk about how the rest of my house-sitting went! Well, the cat and dog both eventually warmed up to me. While they eventually saw me as someone that a) wasn't there to hurt them and also was b) their only source of food, they soon trusted me. But both the dog and the cat tried my patience at one point.

After my first day staying their, I was about to leave the gate when the dog (good old Duke) snuck in front of me and starting running down the street. Now, traffic isn't really an issue on that particular street---but I figured that losing a dog might be a bit of one. I ran back into the gate and grabbed the leash, and started jogging down the street. I knew it looked really strange for a white guy wearing teachers clothes to be jogging down the street with a leash in his hands. Duke would keep jogging so that I would always be just a few meters behind, but eventually he became distracted by other dogs and I got the leash on him. Its nice that humans aren't slaves to instinct like dogs are. Man 1: Animals: 0.

Later in the night I would be inside and would be getting my lessons ready for the following day(s). The problem is, the cat eventually wasn't afraid of me. It isn't that I WANT to be feared, in fact it was obviously a goal of mine to get the cat to like me. However, getting the cat to like me meant that the cat would constantly try to chew on the pen I was using WHILE I was using it. That makes writing difficult. Eventually I saw that Carol had a laser pointer sitting around. I then began the process of:

1) Get laser near cat so that it gets the cat's attention.
2) Make cat start chasing laser.
3) Lead cat down the hallway as far as I can get it.
4) Write without a cat chewing on my pen for about 45 seconds.

While not the most effective way to work (and he just kept coming back!), I'm putting this in the win category.

Man: 2 - Animal: 0

This is for a few friends from RI...

Now that I've written about 5 pages about a cat and a dog, I'll actually talk about important stuff briefly!

I'm picking up my fourth and final class to teach on Monday---which will be Geometry. Right now I have the first 3.3 days planned extensively, and I'm excited to see how Geogebra works in the classroom. I've always heard the other math education people say how awesome it is (I was always a Geometer's Sketchpad man myself...yes, please make fun of me). So far (for being free) it seems really sweet (almost as good as Sketchpad)!

Also, people have seem to have caught wind to the fact that I pretty much will do anything that I'm asked to do. Today I was asked to be an offside referee in a soccer match (I have played ball boy for a lot of college games), but no I've never reffed before. Yes, it has been over 8 years since I last played on a team. Still it went fine, and it was fun to watch the guys play.

One of my students have also asked me to speak at chapel. I think the "tried and true" thing to do for new people is just to talk about my testimony and my life story. The first thing that comes to mind is all of the people who spoke at Taylor's chapel and started with "Wow, I never thought I'd be speaking at chapel." Maybe I'll start with that? Moreover, it is a little sad that I'll be speaking at chapel on the last day that I'll be teaching full time.

Monday I start full time, and will be teaching the four class (Pre-calculus, Physics twice, and geometry) for the next two weeks. I'll finish that week with chapel (December 2nd), teach a few class for two or three more days, then just go back to observing for two days. After that I'll fly back to Manilla to observe how Faith Academy Manilla runs its school. I'll observe about two days there, then I fly back to Rhode Island.

Quick, eh?

p.s. Also, I plan on interviewing some students as this school for this blog---that way you guys can hear a little bit about them. I'll probably interview one of the two students who are probably going to Taylor next year.

Edit: Apparently another senior has just gotten accepted there! Thus begins my recruitment mission....